The development of data infrastructures to support on-going analyses of the impact of reimbursed medicines on healthcare service utilisation in Ireland

Lead investigators
  • Dr Laura McCullagh (NCPE)
Co investigators
  • Prof Michael Barry (NCPE)
  • Dr Cathal McCrory (TCD)
  • Prof Deirdre Murray (NCRI)
  • Dr Lea Trela-Larsen (NCPE)
  • Dr Caroline Walsh (NCPE)
  • Prof Cathal Walsh (NCPE)
Topics
  • Cost effectiveness
  • Data linkage
  • Chemotherapy treatment
Start year
2024
Duration
2 years
Funders

  • Health Research Board (HRB)

In Ireland, the current process for the assessment of the expected value of new medicines involves predictions, made by experts, about how the medicines are likely to affect patients' health outcomes and how much the medicines will cost the health-state payer. According to this assessment a recommendation is made, to the state decision makers, on whether the medicine in question is likely to be effective and to provide value for money. The decision maker uses this information when deciding if the medicine should be funded for use by patients in Ireland. However, these predictions are often associated with uncertainty and the true value of the medicine is often not measured after if has been funded for use.  

This research programme will use national databases to assess the health outcomes actually experienced by patients and the costs actually incurred by the health-state-payer. We will bring together data from the national medicines-funding database (PCRS), the National Cancer Registry of Ireland (NCRI) and the Irish Longitudinal Study of Aging (TILDA) to inform the use, health outcomes and costs associated with medicines in Ireland. The main health conditions, for close examination here, will be cancer and chronic diseases. These are considered to be the areas of highest spend on medicines.  

The research team includes experts from Trinity College Dublin, the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCRI, TILDA and national and international collaborators. The aim of the research is to inform national decision-making in relation to sustainable medicine policies. We will do this by providing evidence on the predicted and realised health outcomes associated with new and existing medicines. The team will investigate this over five work packages. In the final work package, we will deliver recommendations that take into account both national and international evidence.